The prayer from next door
17 April 2020
DANIEL KUMBON
PORT MORESBY – With Papua New Guinea under a state of emergency, I haven't been able to return to my home in Wabag and, here in the national capital, I continue to hear the lady next door pray to God every morning.
Today's prayer, translated from the Enga and Pidgin languages, went something like this.
__________
Thank you God Almighty for giving us Papua New Guinea. It has oil, gas, gold and coffee and other rich resources but why we remain poor, only you know.
May this time of pestilence be a time when PNG can acknowledge you as our God and Saviour.
May it be a time when everybody repents and turns away from our bad ways. Forgive us our sins. Take us back. Guide our government
Thank you for keeping us safe thus far. Destroy the yoke and set us free. Protect our leaders and give them wisdom in our time of need. Let them bow down before you.
This tiny germ has forced them to their knees. From there, let them see you as the only one who can give them strength to face this tiny germ.
Other countries have many doctors, nurses and money but PNG lacks everything. But God you have kept us safe.
You are a merciful God, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Esther. You are the God who sent manna from heaven, the God who gave your people water in the desert.
You are the God who fed multitudes with only five loaves of bread. You are the God who healed the sick. Let PNG see you, the God of Miracles.....
__________
And on she prayed....and like for the last three weeks, my ears were turned in the direction of her humble home.
And the birds continued to sing providing the background choir every morning, perhaps praising God as they've done for millennia.
They never fail to announce the dawn of a new day....
Thanks PK Morre. I guess each individual is different. Each will be judged for their individual actions when that day comes.
Even right now, 3.34am, the lady next door has started praying. She is singing now and resuming her prayers. I have observed that she has children and other people in her home too but nobody else has been joining in the prayers with her.
But I guess, she is consistently sticking to her faith and maybe wants members of her family to know that she has hope in a God when all else fails.
I think I will miss her prayers because I am booked to board one of the morning 'last flights' to Mt Hagen in about four hours time.
All flights will be shut down from today onwards till 20 April I was told yesterday at the Air Niugini office.
When I am in Wabag I will know from Wabag that this lady is still faithfully praying to her creator every morning, hoping all will be well again for PNG and the world.
I can hear her continue to pray 'thank God and pray that people turn to Jesus in these hard times. And make it possible so the children can go back to school etc etc.'
Posted by: Daniel Kumbon | 19 April 2020 at 04:24 AM
Only praying for God's will to be done and not our will. I have heard Christians praying hard and with loudhailers at this time of coronavirus pandemic to stop the disease.
Others prayed that it's the devil spreading the disease to destroy the Christians in this world. Others pray that the creator is testing our faith so we should pray strong.
I see the need for prayer in the midst of secular humanism and spiritual bankruptcy but prayer without works has no effect.
Silent prayer, only listening to the inner voice of our creator to seek His wisdom and his will for us, is far wiser than praying in public and wanting others to know that you are a prayerful person.
Prayer is personal, a conscious contact with the creator who is unseen. In public prayer we use a lot of bodily movement and emotions control us. We go into deeper level of consciousness.
If we are to interact with our creator we should have proper moral and spiritual disposition before we pray. In prayer we surrender to God, freely allowing Him to take control of us because we are powerless over so many things.
Posted by: Philip Kai Morre | 17 April 2020 at 04:18 PM
Thanks KJ.
I am beginning to wonder if I should have turned on a tape recorder to copy all her prayers every morning. Each day she has said something different, pleading with God to continue to hold PNG in His safe hands.
Today's prayer went something like this:
"Lord God let us people in PNG see you as our Lord and Saviour. Don't let the young people waste their time on Facebook but open their eyes to acknowledge you as their Lord of their lives. Show them that you alone is their future.
"Don't let men and women defy the laws of our government. Don't let them smuggle buai into the city. Open their eyes to see that you put the government in place to look after their welfare.
"Open their minds to see that there are other ways to make money. And not buai which is another pest which can cause cancer and easily spread the virus.
"Bless James Marape, the Speaker, Ministers, Powes Parkop and all our leaders. Show them how to lead us like they are supposed to. Let them take the example of Moses who led the Israelites out of bondage to a land of freedom.
"Free the people from the bondage of beer, porkies and prostitution. Open their eyes to see that this tiny virus can take their lives instantly. Whole families can die.
"Embrace us in your loving arms that we may change. We are blind people, all in one place finding it difficult to lead each other.
"Cover PNG with Jesus' blood...and on she prayed and sang worship songs....''
In olden times, the people of Enga always responded to sickness. They did everything they could to alleviate the problem. They knew that drinking a lot of water could cure a person. Today, water represents the word of God.
They knew which traditional medicines to take for particular ailments. But if it got worse, they used to offer pig sacrifices - to both dead relatives and a 'Gote' in the sky.
They were aware unseen spiritual forces were in control of their lives and they responded.
Posted by: Daniel Kumbon | 17 April 2020 at 07:02 AM